Reinforcing diplomatic ties that span over 70 years, the Philippines and Thailand agreed to strengthen cooperation in advancing maritime and ecological management and protection. Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga met with Tull Traisorat, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand to the Philippines last August 7 where they agreed to explore areas of cooperation, capacity-building and knowledge-sharing with regards to sustainability, greening highly urbanized areas, and natural resources conservation.

The DENR Chief and the Thai envoy both agreed to push forward with the Strategic Action Programme for the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, a USD15-million project of the United Nations Environment Programme that aims to reduce coastal and marine environmental degradation in the region. Aside from Thailand and the Philippines, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, and Vietnam are also part of the on-going programme. It is the only agreed common vision among the participating countries on targets and actions for reversing environmental degradation trends in the South China Sea.

Other point discussed covered regional environmental projects in the pipeline that address management of marine protected areas, nature-based solutions to improve local community livelihoods and climate change adaptation, and the promotion of resource efficiency and circularity to reduce plastic pollution.
On top of closer bilateral cooperation on sustainability and environmental conservation, the two Southeast Asian have committed to bolstering trade and investment as well as military ties.